A caminho de Mongo

"Welcome to the factory of the future: It's smaller, more nimble, and run by highly skilled Americans. Just as important, networks of these facilities could crop up across the United States, bringing manufacturing closer to your consumers and lessening your reliance on a crippled global supply chain."

Esta descrição de Mongo parece retirada deste blogue.

Trecho retirado de "The Factory of the Future Is Here--and It's Run by Americans (and Small Robots)"

O cínico

Um daqueles postais que custam clientes...

Não consigo segurar-me, o cinismo toma conta de mim e não consigo pará-lo.

Inovação, Indústria 4.0, fábrica do futuro, plataformas colaborativas, workflow, soluções inteligentes, ...

Cut the chase, vamos ao essencial:

Quando me vierem falar de inovação e Indústria 4.0, por favor, foquem-se numa coisa apenas: a margem cresce, sim ou não? E se cresce, como ou porque cresce? E claro, quanto cresce?

A margem cresce quando:

• o cliente está disposto a pagar mais pelo produto, aumento do preço de venda (Marn e Rosiello mostraram o quão poderoso é este aumento)
• o custo final baixa, a inovação permite reduzir os custos de fabrico, sem pôr em causa a qualidade, sem prejudicar o desempenho do produto final (Marn e Rosiello mostraram a limitação deste tipo de poupança, embora seja benvinda)

O que li:

"Sempre na linha da frente da produção de calçado, a XXXX com a força do digital e da tecnologia desenvolveu um projecto onde casou a manufactura tradicional com o conhecimento tornando-se exemplo de aplicação do conceito de indústria 4.0.

...

YYYY revelou que sentia “uma certa vaidade” por mostrar soluções que eram o resultado prático dos problemas do dia-a-dia que uma empresa industrial e de manufactura encontram.

Uma dessa soluções foi encontrada, em plena pandemia, em que o processo de consultar e mudar fichas, em papel, de instruções de fabrico, foi substituída por um tablet, eliminando um potencial foco de contaminação e infecção pela utilização do dedo e da saliva, dos trabalhadores envolvidos. 

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Todas estas novidades, foram reformas assumidas no sector o que aumentou a produtividade das empresas

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No que toca ao digital, o ZZZ permitiu uma maior utilização de tecnologias que serviram o processo de fabrico, ajudaram à desburocratização de processos, e ajudaram ao desenvolvimento de plataformas de e-commerce.

Também, uma aplicação – IIOT – que permite ligar sensores a máquinas e a sistemas de informação e o armazenamento de dados na nuvem, fez com que se construísse um sistema ciber-físico com vantagens em todo o processo de fabrico do calçado."

Já chega...

Há aqui alguma coisa que ajude a aumentar preços?

"o que aumentou a produtividade das empresas" em quanto, fizeram contas? Apresentaram números? Por que é que o jornal não os publicou?

Como não recordar a minha última conversa oxigenadora...

Seria interessante daqui a seis meses uma visita para confirmar que este tipo de "inovações" continuam a ser utilizadas.

"uma aplicação – IIOT – que permite ligar sensores a máquinas e a sistemas de informação e o armazenamento de dados na nuvem" e depois, quem analisa e trabalha esses dados? 

Ainda esta semana comentava numa empresa de calçado que há 30 anos, quando comecei a trabalhar como consultor, as empresas contratavam alguém para a função da qualidade quando decidiam avançar para a implementação de um sistema da qualidade. Agora, quase nenhuma o faz. Resposta: temos de ter estruturas leves porque sofremos muito na primeira década deste século e não queremos voltar a cometer o mesmo erro. Sorri, lembrei-me do engenheiro H. perdido numa linha de montagem, porque quem não trabalhava na linha era malandro.

Para terminar com um tom mais optimista. Quando me vierem falar em inovação no calçado, falem-me em "é meter código nisso".

O mundo que conhecemos nos últimos 20 anos vai mudar (parte II)

Ontem de manhã saí de casa pelas 6h30 e fui fazer uma caminhada junto ao mar. Por volta do km 4 lá voltei a encontrar as, já minhas amigas, rolas-do-mar.

Ao descer para a marginal ouvi este artigo "The Freewheeling, Copyright-Infringing World of Custom-Printed Tees":

"Exurbia had stumbled on what could be roughly described as the “Napster of Things.”
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A New, Web-Enabled Industry
Companies like TeeChip are known as print-on-demand shops. They allow users to upload and market designs; when a customer places an order—say, for a T-shirt—the company arranges the printing, often done in-house, and the item is shipped to the customer. The technology gives anyone with an idea and an internet connection the ability to monetize their creativity and start a global merchandising line with no overhead, no inventory, and no risk. [Moi ici: Reparar na ligação com a parte I]
...
CafePress, which launched in 1999, was among the first print-on-demand operations; the business model spread in the mid-2000s along with the rise of digital printing. Previously, manufacturers would screen-print the same design onto items such as T-shirts, an overhead-intensive approach that usually requires bulk orders to turn a profit. With digital printing, ink is sprayed onto the material itself, allowing one machine to print several different designs in a day, making even one-off production profitable.
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Many print-on-demand companies are fully integrated ecommerce platforms, allowing designers to manage easy-to-use web stores—similar to user pages on Etsy or Amazon. Some platforms, such as GearLaunch, allow designers to operate pages under unique domain names and integrate with popular ecommerce services such as Shopify, while providing marketing and inventory tools, production, delivery, and customer service."

Ontem, na parte I, referi: "Coronavirus, a Brescia manca una valvola per i rianimatori: ingegneri e fisici la stampano in 3D in sei ore".
Já esta manhã, ao abrir o Twitter apanho isto:

Duas coisas:

• empresa sem noção - Medical company threatens to sue volunteers that 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments
• a facilidade com que se faz o by-pass
• disparidade entre preço e custo

Quanto mais durar esta situação de excepção, mais a fome se irá juntar à vontade de comer. 

Histerese!!! A primeira vez que a li, neste novo contexto, esta semana, foi através de Hermann Simon:

"A questão de saber se haverá um efeito de histerese é muito interessante. Este é o nome de um fenómeno na Física em que um impulso temporário tem um efeito permanente. Um exemplo bem conhecido é a magnetização. Depois de uma peça de ferro ser magnetizada, ela permanece magnética por algum tempo. Portanto, a crise temporária levará a mudanças permanentes no comportamento do consumidor."

Depois de experimentada esta nova realidade, quando o novo normal emergir, muitas organizações e pessoas não voltarão às práticas do passado. Assim, muitos modelos de negócio estarão obsoletos e muitos mais aparecerão baseados na necessidade e em:

"The technology gives anyone with an idea and an internet connection the ability to monetize their creativity ... with no overhead, no inventory, and no risk."

Num mundo sem patentes, não se ganha a vida a cobrar rendas por peças. Num mundo sem patentes:

"Num mundo sem patentes... tudo é acelerado.
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A única forma de uma empresa se manter à tona é nunca parar, é estar sempre à frente da onda." 

Testar, brincar, aprender

Recordar este postal, "Para reflexão", e relacionar com "Microsoft is betting on the future of buildings":

"Microsoft just brought an architecture firm to its IoT lab for the first time–here’s what it could mean for the future of buildings.
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“Imagine that the floor beneath you is modular, a super-smart floor made of iPads–or rather tablets, because iPads are not made by Microsoft,” Radewych describes, half-jokingly correcting himself. Each unit of the scalable, modular network would contain up to 20 different sensors to live-track various elements of our interior environments, such as humidity, temperature, smell, light, sound, and more. It would then feed that information into an office or home’s ecosystem of smart appliances. “This means that a building can become proactive to the needs of its inhabitants, instead of simply reactive,” says Radewych."

BTW, qual não foi o meu espanto na semana passada quando em Bragança dou de caras com duas baterias Tesla, com cerca de 1,70 m de altura, para serem instaladas.

NOTA: fui corrigido, têm 1,90 m de altura.

Imagem usada em "Correlacionar, associar, prever e antecipar"

"People don’t buy IoT"

Recomendo "People Don’t Buy IoT, They Buy a Solution to a Problem" à  atenção do Victor M.:

"Too many product teams and entrepreneurs think, “If I connect it, they will come.” The problem is that people don’t buy IoT, they buy a solution to a problem.
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The fact that we can connect any device to the Internet doesn’t mean we should. And if we’re not careful, we can fall into the trap of having technology looking for a problem, instead of starting with a problem and looking for the best way to solve it.
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People don’t buy IoT, they buy a solution to a problem.
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You see, Brita never set out to become an IoT company. They didn’t sit in their lab with IoT components trying to figure out what to build. Instead, they realized that IoT was a good tool to solve their user’s problem. Remember, people don’t buy IoT, they buy a solution to a problem.
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So start by understanding your customer’s needs [Moi ici: O job to be done] and then choose the best tool for the job. It might be IoT and it might not. And figuring that out early on will save you a lot of time and money."

Hacking

Por um lado a John Deere aparece em artigos, cerimónias e prémios a fomentar a co-criação. Por outro lado, outra realidade "Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware".

Algo me diz que a John Deere vai ter de mudar de política.

Mongo e código na indústria química

A propósito de "Mais um exemplo de onde o "é meter código nisso" pode chegar, "Industry 4.0 and the chemicals industry":

"The initial momentum of Industry 4.0 in the chemicals industry is primarily at the level of business operations, mainly due to the abundance of historical sensor data collected by chemicals companies over the years.8 The long-term potential for business growth applications promises to be equally, if not more, transformational, but those applications take time to develop.
...

...

Código na agricultura (parte II)

Parte I.

• Self-Driving Cars Are Coming, but Self-Driving Tractors Are Already Here
• Japan's Next Generation of Farmers Could Be Robots
• Farmer interest in digital agriculture technology experiencing 'extraordinary' growth this year
• Espaço aberto para inovações no campo

O consumidor de Mongo (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.
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A parte I começa com:

"Connected technology and intelligent use of data have already enabled"

A tecnologia da produção em massa da revolução industrial com a electricidade e o comboio criaram o mercado de massas do século XX. Agora, novamente, as tecnologias do final do século XX e do inicio do século XXI permitiram o advento de Mongo, e esse advento permite que um novo tipo de consumidor apareça. E quanto mais esse consumidor aparece, mais ficamos todos weird, e mais Mongo se entranha. Olhando para as 5 categorias que caracterizam os consumidores de Mongo, avançadas nas partes I e II não fica difícil antever o bailado com a IoT, com as impressoras 3D, com o DIY, com as tribos, com os novos materiais, com os novos modelos de negócio, ...
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Uma co-evolução em que um diz mata e o outro diz esfola!

Acerca da servitization (parte I)

Não é exclusivo para o sector da metalurgia e metalomecânica, que produz máquinas e ferramentas, mas aplica-se como uma luva:

"Because it changes the way in which the firm creates and appropriates value. The imperatives to servitize and to develop the activities accordingly are increasing and becoming more vital than ever.
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In the manufacturing firm´s value chain, the value adding potential is moving from production activities to the intangible pre- and post-production activities. Therefore, the firm needs to extend these activities to keep the total value adding stable.
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Technological development like IOT, production systems for high cost countries and additive manufacturing may contribute to a concentration of the value chain back to high cost countries.[Moi ici: Ainda os gurus da nossa praça cantavam o refrão "China a fábrica do mundo e já neste blogue se reflectiva sobre o reshoring]
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However, they also contribute to further lowering the value adding potential in the production part of the manufacturing firm´s value adding activities.[Moi ici: Nunca esquecer o esquema de Pine e Gilmore e o trabalho corrosivo constante da erosão da comoditização]

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The competitive pressure reduces margins and opens a disintermediation of the service delivery value chain parts similarly as has already happened to the production part of the value chain.
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Thus, besides servitization to compensate for the continuous reduction in value adding potential relating to production activities, the manufacturing firm also needs to create service monopolies by product or service attributes that lock out competing service providers and ultimately, they must continually innovate also in the domain of services.
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Reaching ever higher service content requires a change in the organization, culture, processes and customer interaction as well as the development of new competencies and capabilities."

Como não recordar "PME e código, já pensou nisso? (parte IV)" e "Mais um exemplo de onde o "é meter código nisso" pode chegar"

Continua

Trechos retirados de "Servitization - an Increasingly Critical Strategy for Manufacturing Firms"

Código na agricultura

É melhor ler o artigo "The future of agriculture" bem sentado para poder absorver bem o impacte das mudanças que aí podem vir na agricultura e o que podem significar.

"ONE way to view farming is as a branch of matrix algebra. A farmer must constantly juggle a set of variables, such as the weather, his soil’s moisture levels and nutrient content, competition to his crops from weeds, threats to their health from pests and diseases, and the costs of taking action to deal with these things. If he does the algebra correctly, or if it is done on his behalf, he will optimise his yield and maximise his profit.
The job of smart farming, then, is twofold. One is to measure the variables going into the matrix as accurately as is cost-effective. The other is to relieve the farmer of as much of the burden of processing the matrix as he is comfortable with ceding to a machine."

Impossível ficar insensível às mudanças na calha.

Mongo, código e modelo de negócio

Mais um sintoma da evolução para Mongo, para o Estranhistão e da entrada do "é meter código nisso":

"Technology advancements and the Industrial Internet of Things are making this outcome orientation [Moi ici: As empresas deixarem de ver-se como produtores de produtos com atributos mas antes como facilitadoras de recursos para que os clientes vivam determinadas experiências e/ou atinjam determinados resultados] more feasible every day."

Impressionante mesmo a lista de dificuldades que se colocam às empresas que querem ir por esta via:

"The transformation requires manufacturers to redesign every major function in its organization - especially commercial functions charged with defining, selling and servicing value propositions.
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[Moi ici: Muito interessante o trecho que se segue e o seu alinhamento com Mongo] For instance, in a traditional, customer-centric organization, marketers identify customer segments across multiple dimensions, then define solutions (a mix of products and services) to meet each segment’s needs. But in an outcome-centric organization, marketers target individual customers. Then they tailor value propositions to each customer in order to deliver an outcome.
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For an outcome-centric company to carry out marketing’s promise, sales organizations must know the customer well enough to understand the specific outcomes it seeks. This requires a strong partnership between sales organizations and customers.
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Becoming outcome-centric requires more than changes to marketing and sales, however. Product development teams will need to focus on delivering products as a service to enable real-time service level monitoring. [Moi ici: É aqui que entra o "é meter código nisso"] This way, engineers and product designers no longer have to make educated guesses about how their products perform in the field, because they can collect actual performance data instead.
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Pricing is another function that has to adapt. [Moi ici: Tanto tema dilecto deste blogue!!!] While many manufacturers today use a cost-plus or market-based pricing model, pricing in an outcome-centric organization must change to something like price per outcome or usage. This is critical if manufacturers are to capture a greater share of the revenue from the outcomes they help deliver. But for many industrial companies, developing advanced pricing capabilities has not been a priority.
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After-sales support and customer service are also affected as they increasingly focus on predictive interventions.
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Becoming an outcome-centric organization is arguably one of the most important strategic decisions your company can make. And it’s becoming more feasible every day, thanks to technology advancements and the Industrial Internet of Things. Without an outcome-centric mindset and operational model, companies risk falling behind. But it involves a foundational shift in organization and culture. Embracing this major undertaking and maintaining the discipline to follow through will likely mean the difference between future success and stagnant survival."

Trechos retirados de "Manufacturing Companies Need to Sell Outcomes, Not Products"

Meter código nisso é bem mais difícil

"The Internet of Things Will Change Your Company, Not Just Your Products" um texto que me veio alertar para as muitas barreiras que existirão na transição para um Mongo carregado de código.
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Nunca pensei que fosse o mundo de facilidades prometido aqui "Armas para a revolução industrial chegam daqui a três meses" e resolúvel com grupos de trabalho comandados por multinacionais, quando Mongo é insurgente e avesso à velha ordem.

Voltando ao texto inicial:

"Successful IoT plays require more than simply adding connectivity to a product and charging for service — something many companies don’t immediately understand. Building an IoT offering requires design thinking from the get-go. Specifically, it requires reimagining the business you are in, empathizing with your target customers and their challenges, and creatively determining how to most effectively solve their problems.
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When product-based companies add services and connectivity, operational requirements increase. The resulting challenges may include new contract-manufacturing relationships, which can be a complicated and disorienting process for the uninitiated.
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The addition of third-party services and shared customer ownership can introduce tiers of customer-support challenges. Inventory requirements, warranties, and returns may change. In addition, companies may suddenly find themselves having to comply with unfamiliar laws and regulations, including those related to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and customer “Personally Identifiable Information” (confidential data such as names, addresses, contact information).
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[Moi ici: O meu lado cínico leva-me a pensar que as multinacionais vão sobretudo concentrar-se em proteger-se dos davids] Since new companies built from the ground up as IoT businesses lack the departmental baggage of older firms trying to make the transition into the IoT world, the former’s learning curve is often shorter. However, the immaturity of the IoT industry means that the practices and capabilities that suffice today will not tomorrow. An ability to evolve — and to do so quickly — is a prerequisite for success."

BTW, em "Tom Peters Wants You to Read" encontrei este trecho delicioso relevante, também, para esta conversa:

"Peters also recommends Marc Levinson’s The Box, about the invention of the shipping container. “The idea of containerizing freight was irrelevant until you completely redesigned ports, dealt with the longshoremen, etc.,” he said. “The reinvention of the context is what made all the difference.”" 

PME e código, já pensou nisso? (parte V)

Parte I, parte II, parte III e parte IV.
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Nem de propósito para se juntar à série sob este título "You Don’t Have to Be a Software Company to Think Like One":

"Every business is, willingly or unwillingly, a competitor on a software playing field, no matter which sector it’s in....In a world underpinned by ever more powerful, affordable, and public technology platforms, software is still king. And its importance as a source of value will only continue to grow..You may be thinking: but my company isn’t a software company. That may be the case, but the current business environment requires all leaders to view their companies as software businesses — and think like software executives. That doesn’t mean that you should stop delivering your current products or services. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you should suddenly start selling something labeled “software.” Rather, this approach recognizes a fundamental shift in the sources of value creation and competitive advantage toward software.... [Moi ici: Todas as semanas encontro situações em que um produto maduro, banal, poderia voltar a ser sexy com um pouco de código e IoT. Desde a empresa que se esqueceu de encomendar uma caixa de matéria-prima quando a última foi aberta, porque não um "dash" básico, simples para o B2B até ...] Digital technologies aren’t just tools of production to improve existing processes; they are also instruments of coordination, making it easier to collaborate with partners. [Moi ici: Este é o mei ponto principal, fomentar interacção relevante no B2B e aprendizagem para ambas as partes] Adopting a software mentality should include rethinking your business model to include partnerships with others who can help form richer ecosystems, generate network effects, and improve your overall value proposition. But it also means evaluating whether you may be better served by bringing outsourced capabilities back in-house....It’s what companies can reimagine with software that creates the real opportunities (and, inevitably, threats). To succeed at digitization, executives must view their businesses as software companies."

PME e código, já pensou nisso? (parte IV)

Parte I, parte II e parte III.
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Meter código nisso não precisa de começar pelo produto, pode muito bem começar por um destes vectores:

Imagem retirada de "Perspectives on Digital Business"

PME e código, já pensou nisso? (parte III)

Parte I e parte II, a que há que juntar "Um exemplo concreto e ao vivo do "é meter código nisso!"".
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Não pense que a sua PME terá de investir uma fortuna para meter código nos seus produtos. Alguns conselhos de alguém que o está a fazer, misturar código com produtos/serviços clássicos:

"Start small.
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We had the classic minimum viable product approach, starting with small businesses and what we knew well, and working our way up."
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Choose investors carefully, and educate them well.
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Structure is crucial.
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Balance the culture between old and new.
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"At Flexport, we have people from startups and Silicon Valley working alongside people who have been working in the freight logistics industry for years. The two cultures are naturally very different. I think the secret to our company's success so far has been getting both of those groups, who normally would never talk to each other, be friends and solve each other’s problems.
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You have to get good at checklists and managing expectations. It means slowing down your salespeople when they're closing a deal. It means having engineers work on something boring related to compliance instead of some amazing cool feature they want to build. I had a customs attorney I was paying before I paid any employees. You have to take it more seriously than the average startup, and instill it at every level."

Conseguem imaginar os job-to-be-done? (parte II)

"Implante no cérebro permite que tetraplégico volte a jogar Guitar Hero"
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"This Could Be the Wheelchair of the Future"
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Recordar "Conseguem imaginar os job-to-be-done?"
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O impacte potencial da internet das coisas, do código, na vida destas pessoas...

Um exemplo concreto e ao vivo do "é meter código nisso!"

Um exemplo concreto e ao vivo do que aqui se recomenda com frequência: "é meter código nisso!"
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Pegar num produto e transformá-lo numa plataforma.
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Criar um mercado para que programadores desenvolvam aplicações e serviços associados a esse produto.
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Criar parcerias com outros produtores para que queiram fazer parte da plataforma numa relação ganhar-ganhar-ganhar.
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Ver "GoPro Launches Developer Program":

"GoPro announced the public launch of its developer program.
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The initiative, which was quietly rolled out with a few partners a year ago, is aimed at offering official support of third-party companies that want to build products with seamless GoPro integration.
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First is having their mobile apps connect directly with GoPro cameras,
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Second is the ability for developers to build devices that can connect with GoPro cameras either physically or wirelessly
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Finally, third parties will be able to build mounting and housing products that specifically meet GoPro specifications,
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To date, 100 companies have joined the developer program.
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And GoPro’s initiative is launching with a certification program called Works with GoPro that offers third-party companies integrated marketing help and an official logo."

E à sua escala, como é que a sua PME pode começar algo deste tipo? Espero que os fabricantes de máquinas, por exemplo, estejam nesta onda.

Mais um exemplo de onde o "é meter código nisso" pode chegar

"The small private company in New Hampshire has climbed steadily up the economic ladder of its industry to produce specialized fabrics that weave in ceramics, metals and fiberglass. These high-value fabrics are used in products like safety gloves for industrial workers and body armor for the police and military.
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"These would be high-tech offerings that change the game for the companies involved and for the industry,"
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The advanced fabrics project, which is being announced on Friday, represents a new frontier for the Internet of Things. The term describes putting sensors and computing in all manner of physical objects — jet engines, power generators, cars, farm equipment and thermostats, among others — to measure and monitor everything from machines in need of repair to traffic patterns. [Moi ici: E recuo a 1990 e às primeiras experiências de manutenção condicionada que vi serem feitas na indústria. E recordo que há tempos fiz este esquema para um projecto:

Queríamos saber o perfil de utilização de uma máquina que era o gargalo da produção. Com a IoT isto será imediato]
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 The products of this emerging field are being called "functional fabrics," "connected fabrics," "textile devices" and "smart garments."
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Clothes filled with sensors and chips could give new meaning to the term wearables,
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"This is about reimagining what a fabric is, and rebirthing textiles into a high-tech industry,"
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For some companies, the functional fabrics are a potential add-on market. For others, they could disrupt their businesses.
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Until about two years ago, VF did not really have a R&D operation, said Marty Lawrence, a general manager for innovation. Instead, it mainly tapped research efforts at universities and by its suppliers.
But eying trends in the industry and technology, VF has hired scientists and set up four innovation centers in the United States that focus on areas including new fabrics for bluejeans and cognitive science.
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The functional fabrics project, Mr. Lawrence said, represents "the future of apparel.""

Tem a certeza que a sua empresa não tem de se antecipar e testar oportunidades neste campeonato?

Trechos retirados de "U.S. Textile Industry Turns to Tech as Gateway to Revival"

PME e código, já pensou nisso? (parte II)

Parte I.

"First came steam and water power; then electricity and assembly lines; then computerization… So what comes next?
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Some call it the fourth industrial revolution, or industry 4.0, but whatever you call it, it represents the combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, and the Internet of Systems.
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there are also grave potential risks. Schwab outlines his concerns that organizations could be unable or unwilling to adapt to these new technologies
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It seems a safe bet to say, then, that our current political, business, and social structures may not be ready or capable of absorbing all the changes a fourth industrial revolution would bring, and that major changes to the very structure of our society may be inevitable.
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In order to thrive, business leaders will have to actively work to expand their thinking away from what has been traditionally done, and include ideas and systems that may never have been considered. Business leaders must begin questioning everything, from rethinking their strategies and business models, to discovering the right investments in training and potentially disruptive R&D investments."

Trechos retirados de "Why Everyone Must Get Ready For The 4th Industrial Revolution".